THE INSIDER AUTHORITY ON GATOR SPORTS

No letdown: Gators pound UNF, 9-3

The possibility for a letdown was there. Heading into a series that will decide the SEC Championship this weekend against South Carolina in Columbia, the fourth-ranked Gators could have overlooked the University of North Florida Ospreys.

Instead of a letdown, however, it was business as usual as the Gators (38-12) pounded out 12 hits on the way to their 12th win in their last 13 games, a 9-3 Tuesday night victory over the Ospreys at McKethan Stadium.

“We’re playing consistent,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We haven’t beaten ourselves. We got an early lead, so we were able to get a lot of players in there.”

Florida wasted no time jumping on the Ospreys, jumping out to a 3-0 first inning lead. Austin Maddox got the Gators started when he singled in Preston Tucker and Matt den Dekker finished things off with a two-run homer over the right field fence off a hanging curve ball served up by UNF starter Josh Patton.

For den Dekker, who leads the team in average (.365) and is second in home runs (11) and RBI (40), the ball has been jumping off his bat.

“I’m feeling good right now,” den Dekker said. “I’ve just been working on my swing and it’s paying off right now.”

Florida added two third inning runs to stretch the advantage to 5-0. After Nolan Fontana led off with a double, Bryson Smith delivered a run-scoring single. Maddox came through with his second RBI of the game, a single to center that sent Smith to the plate.

Maddox wasn’t done yet. He hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and got his fifth RBI of the game in the sixth on a single to center field.

The fifth inning homer etched Maddox’s name into the Florida record book. It was his 17th homer of the season which is a new school record for freshmen. For the season, Maddox is hitting .353 with 17 homers and 63 RBI.

“I didn’t expect to come in here and do that,” Maddox said. “I come to the ballpark every day ready to play. It feels good to break the record. From day one, I just wanted to come in and help my team as much as possible. I feel like I’ve done that.”

Maddox went 1-10 over the weekend against Georgia, so the 4-4, 5-RBI performance was crucial for him to get confidence going into the weekend. The freshman was hit on the arm with a pitch in Friday night’s game, and he dealt with some soreness that affected his swing over the weekend.

“It feels good to build some confidence going into this weekend,” Maddox said. “I just battled through the elbow injury, but it’s good now.”

The plan for the Florida pitchers was to keep pitch counts low enough so that every arm was available for this weekend’s series with South Carolina that will decide the SEC Championship.

Tommy Toledo made his first start since March 14 against Charleston Southern, when he was hit in the face by a line drive. He was on a pitch count around 30 and lasted two innings, giving up three hits and recording two strikeouts.

Toledo said that with the low pitch count, 27, he should be available for this weekend.

“I’m back to normal,” Toledo said. “I knew I was only going to throw a couple innings. We just wanted to build my arm back up.”

From a confidence standpoint, Nick Maronde’s third inning might have been the most important outing of the night. He has struggled with his control, walking 24 batters in 25-1/3 innings this season, and his confidence seemed shot over the weekend.

However, he rebounded Tuesday, striking out two batters in his inning of work.

“It was great to get Maronde back out there,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought he was outstanding tonight. He’s a huge part of our team, if we’re going to get to where we want to get to.”

Matt Campbell, Anthony DeSclafani, Chas Spottswood and Michael Heller threw the final six innings, allowing three runs and two walks.

Florida catcher Mike Zunino sat out the game because of a dislocated thumb that he suffered Saturday against Georgia. The Gators do expect to have him in the lineup this weekend.

“I think he’s fine,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ll practice and see how it feels, but I anticipate him being ready to go.”

Florida’s focus now turns to an SEC Championship. The Gators will leave early Wednesday morning and bus to Columbia for a night practice before taking on the Gamecocks Thursday night in the first game of a three-game series that will determine the conference championship.

Florida will hand the ball to sophomore left-hander Alex Panteliodis (8-2, 3.34) to oppose South Carolina ace Blake Cooper (10-0, 3.01). First pitch is set for 7 p.m.

Automatic NCAA berth: Arizona State has a three-game lead over UCLA with six games to play – three with Oregon State this weekend and three at Stanford the following weekend. The Bruins, meanwhile, have three games at California this weekend and close at home against Washingon State. Arizona State and UCLA are the only teams with a chance to win the regular-season title and automatic NCAA berth.

Tournament: Top-seeded Army was host to fourth-seeded Bucknell and second-seeded Lehigh was host to third-seeded Holy Cross in best-of-three series May 14-15, with Bucknell and Holy Cross each winning the decisive third game to set up a best-of-three series May 21-22 at Holy Cross (first game Friday, second game Saturday and third game, if necessary, following Saturday’s second game).

Tournament: None. San Diego won the outright conference title last weekend without playing a game. The Toreros were idle and San Francisco swept second-place Portland and Pepperdine dropped a game, so it is mathematically impossible for anyone to catch San Diego, which has a three-game road series remaining with Pepperdine May 21-23 and a home series with Saint Mary’s May 28-30.

The possibility for a letdown was there. Heading into a series that will decide the SEC Championship this weekend against South Carolina in Columbia, the fourth-ranked Gators could have overlooked the University of North Florida Ospreys.

Instead of a letdown, however, it was business as usual as the Gators (38-12) pounded out 12 hits on the way to their 12th win in their last 13 games, a 9-3 Tuesday night victory over the Ospreys at McKethan Stadium.

“We’re playing consistent,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We haven’t beaten ourselves. We got an early lead, so we were able to get a lot of players in there.”

Florida wasted no time jumping on the Ospreys, jumping out to a 3-0 first inning lead. Austin Maddox got the Gators started when he singled in Preston Tucker and Matt den Dekker finished things off with a two-run homer over the right field fence off a hanging curve ball served up by UNF starter Josh Patton.

For den Dekker, who leads the team in average (.365) and is second in home runs (11) and RBI (40), the ball has been jumping off his bat.

“I’m feeling good right now,” den Dekker said. “I’ve just been working on my swing and it’s paying off right now.”

Florida added two third inning runs to stretch the advantage to 5-0. After Nolan Fontana led off with a double, Bryson Smith delivered a run-scoring single. Maddox came through with his second RBI of the game, a single to center that sent Smith to the plate.

Maddox wasn’t done yet. He hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and got his fifth RBI of the game in the sixth on a single to center field.

The fifth inning homer etched Maddox’s name into the Florida record book. It was his 17th homer of the season which is a new school record for freshmen. For the season, Maddox is hitting .353 with 17 homers and 63 RBI.

“I didn’t expect to come in here and do that,” Maddox said. “I come to the ballpark every day ready to play. It feels good to break the record. From day one, I just wanted to come in and help my team as much as possible. I feel like I’ve done that.”

Maddox went 1-10 over the weekend against Georgia, so the 4-4, 5-RBI performance was crucial for him to get confidence going into the weekend. The freshman was hit on the arm with a pitch in Friday night’s game, and he dealt with some soreness that affected his swing over the weekend.

“It feels good to build some confidence going into this weekend,” Maddox said. “I just battled through the elbow injury, but it’s good now.”

The plan for the Florida pitchers was to keep pitch counts low enough so that every arm was available for this weekend’s series with South Carolina that will decide the SEC Championship.

Tommy Toledo made his first start since March 14 against Charleston Southern, when he was hit in the face by a line drive. He was on a pitch count around 30 and lasted two innings, giving up three hits and recording two strikeouts.

Toledo said that with the low pitch count, 27, he should be available for this weekend.

“I’m back to normal,” Toledo said. “I knew I was only going to throw a couple innings. We just wanted to build my arm back up.”

From a confidence standpoint, Nick Maronde’s third inning might have been the most important outing of the night. He has struggled with his control, walking 24 batters in 25-1/3 innings this season, and his confidence seemed shot over the weekend.

However, he rebounded Tuesday, striking out two batters in his inning of work.

“It was great to get Maronde back out there,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought he was outstanding tonight. He’s a huge part of our team, if we’re going to get to where we want to get to.”

Matt Campbell, Anthony DeSclafani, Chas Spottswood and Michael Heller threw the final six innings, allowing three runs and two walks.

Florida catcher Mike Zunino sat out the game because of a dislocated thumb that he suffered Saturday against Georgia. The Gators do expect to have him in the lineup this weekend.

“I think he’s fine,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ll practice and see how it feels, but I anticipate him being ready to go.”

Florida’s focus now turns to an SEC Championship. The Gators will leave early Wednesday morning and bus to Columbia for a night practice before taking on the Gamecocks Thursday night in the first game of a three-game series that will determine the conference championship.

Florida will hand the ball to sophomore left-hander Alex Panteliodis (8-2, 3.34) to oppose South Carolina ace Blake Cooper (10-0, 3.01). First pitch is set for 7 p.m.

Automatic NCAA berth: Arizona State has a three-game lead over UCLA with six games to play – three with Oregon State this weekend and three at Stanford the following weekend. The Bruins, meanwhile, have three games at California this weekend and close at home against Washingon State. Arizona State and UCLA are the only teams with a chance to win the regular-season title and automatic NCAA berth.

Tournament: Top-seeded Army was host to fourth-seeded Bucknell and second-seeded Lehigh was host to third-seeded Holy Cross in best-of-three series May 14-15, with Bucknell and Holy Cross each winning the decisive third game to set up a best-of-three series May 21-22 at Holy Cross (first game Friday, second game Saturday and third game, if necessary, following Saturday’s second game).

Tournament: None. San Diego won the outright conference title last weekend without playing a game. The Toreros were idle and San Francisco swept second-place Portland and Pepperdine dropped a game, so it is mathematically impossible for anyone to catch San Diego, which has a three-game road series remaining with Pepperdine May 21-23 and a home series with Saint Mary’s May 28-30.